


Fleeing the Storm

by Padawan_Writer



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: All The Tropes, Alternate Universe - Circus, Alternate Universe - Historical, Arranged Marriage, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff, French Revolution, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Historical Inaccuracy, Historical Thriller, Inspired by the Scarlet Pimpernel, Leia isn’t Ben’s mother, Leia organa - Freeform, Marriage of Convenience, Matter of Life and Death, Minor Character Death, Mutual Pining, No Smut, Only One Bed, Or as slow as I could bear to make it haha, Poe Dameron - Freeform, Rose Tico - Freeform, She’s just an awesome lady that runs an awesome gig, Slow Burn, Though I tried to keep it authentic, finn - Freeform, threat of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:54:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29227299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Padawan_Writer/pseuds/Padawan_Writer
Summary: As the granddaughter of a merciless aristocrat, Rey’s life hangs on a thread at the hands of the French Revolutionaries. When her childhood friend, Ben, offers to platonically marry her in order to take her to his home in England to safety, she has no choice but to accept.But her suitor and revolutionary Hux won’t give her up so easily. Hounded by revolutionaries and falling in love, Rey and Ben must use all their wits to flee Paris and make it to England.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 23
Kudos: 46
Collections: To Find Your Kiss: The Reylo Fanfiction Anthology's Valentine's Day Exchange





	1. Trapped

**Author's Note:**

  * For [driverfever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/driverfever/gifts).



> Happy Valentines! I hope you enjoy this--friends to lovers, marriage of convenience, and historical thriller ❤️

Rey paced up and down her sunny drawing room, unable to contain her excitement and anticipation. It had been so long since she last saw Ben, Lord Ben Solo, her childhood friend, after he’d finished tutoring under her grandfather and moved back to his ancestral home in England. The English Channel forbade any more than once or twice yearly visits to her Parisienne home, even when he had finally purchased his own yacht the year before for just that purpose. It had been a lonely six months since she last saw Ben.

Male footsteps sounded on the stairs. Rey almost tripped on her dress in excitement. The maid opened the door. “Citoyen Hux to see you, ma’am.”

Rey’s heart fell.

“What’s this, disappointed to see me?” Hux asked, coming up to Rey and giving her a double peck on the cheeks. “That frown is hardly becoming on you, ma chère.”

Rey drew back quickly. “Ah, no. I’m expecting an old friend to arrive at any minute now, whom I have not seen for a long time. How’s… business?”

Hux’s face lit up at the question. “Ah yes, our glorious revolution! With the king gone, you and I, ma chère, will live to see a new France! Liberté, égalité, fraternité!”

Rey thought of the guillotine and shuddered. The feeling she’d been having lately, of being on the brink of something terrible and bloody, came back to overtake her. “Wonderful,” she said noncommittally, returning to the window looking for one carriage in particular in the street.

“I can see I’m not exactly wanted right now.” Hux said after a moment in a colder voice. “I think I should leave you in peace. To watch for your—friend.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Hux! I didn’t mean to give you this impression. But I suppose you are right, I am rather busy this morning.” Rey said, twisting the blood red curtain tassels in her fingers.

“Evidently,” Hux said with a cold bow. On his way out, he let another person in.

“Hello, Rey of sunshine!” Ben said, in English.

“Ben!” Rey ran to him and jumped in his arms, and he lifted her feet off the floor and swung her around in a circle. “I’m so pleased to see you!” she cried, “And guess what—”

“What?” Ben grinned down at the shining face laughing up against his chest.

“Grand-père is throwing a ball tonight to celebrate your return!”

Ben set her down on her feet again. “Are you sure that’s wise in these times?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, her voice somewhat soberer.

“Feeling is running high against the aristocracy. Against people such as your grandfather, Marquis Palpatine.”

Rey frowned, and Ben regretted being the one that put the frown there. “But I’m great friends with all the servants… Only yesterday I sent gifts and a basket for the butler’s new baby… Surely they wouldn’t try to—to harm us? Turn us over to the revolutionaries?”

“Maybe not you, but I wouldn’t count on it,” Ben said seriously. “Palpatine has not been the best of friends towards them in the past.”

Rey winced at the very vivid memory she had from when she was a little girl, when she had witnessed her grandfather whipping a young servant boy for stealing food from the kitchens for his starving family. She understood why the people would want revenge… but it was a terrifying revenge. Again that feeling of the looming threat of a storm. “You’re scaring me now. Does this mean we should call off the ball?”

Ben considered. “Not after you’ve been to all this trouble. Let’s have some fun tonight!”

According to her maid, Rey “polished up well”. According to Hux, she looked ravishing in wine-red and white, but adding blue would be a more patriotic choice. According to Ben, she looked like “a red flower”. Rey, taking turns on the dance floor with one man after the other, decided she wasn’t trying to impress anyone anyway.

“May I have this dance?” Ben asked when she’d finally escaped Hux’s clutches. Hux danced well enough, if a little clunkily, but Rey knew from long experience that Ben, though his huge frame belied it, was a truly graceful dancer. They’d been given dancing lessons together when they were younger by a little tutor in a pince-nez who had been delighted beyond measure that each of them had a partner to practice with. They’d stepped on each other’s toes more times than they could count, but the hours and hours of quite excessive practice they’d put in together in the darkened corridors of the manor house as teenagers had paid off. 

“You may,” Rey said, leading him out onto the dance floor, feeling nostalgic. They took their place at the top of the line as hostess and guest of honour.

“I have something I need to speak to you about…” Ben began hesitantly, flowing into the dance as the music rose. “I had planned on talking to you about it later or next week… but I honestly don’t think it can wait that long now.”

“Ben… that sounds serious. You can tell me anything, you know,” Rey assured him.

After the dance, Ben led her into an anti-chamber where a fire burnt in the hearth, sat her down on the plush couch and shut the door. “Rey… there’s no easy way to say this,” he said, leaning on the mantle.

Rey got up and went to him. “What is it?”

Ben ran his hand through his hair and swallowed. “France isn’t safe for you anymore.”

“The Revolution?” Rey whispered, laying her hand on his arm. “But surely—“

“The Revolution will not be peaceful for you,” Ben said, avoiding her gaze and staring into the fire. ‘I fear it will be bloody and violent for all the aristocracy, and you will not be spared. You may not know it, or maybe you do, but your grandfather has not had a good history with those underneath him. He has done and said many unwise and—unkind things to those with less privilege than him. And my fear is that you will not be spared when they come for his life.”

“Do you think I should leave Paris for a while?” Rey asked, staring into the flames also and already mentally scanning her options. “But where would I go? Our country house?”

Ben dismissed the suggestion with a thoughtful flick of the hand. “No, you wouldn’t be safe there. It’s too close and you have the same set of staff there. They’d turn you in. No, I have a better suggestion.”

Rey didn’t hesitate to ask, “What?” She trusted Ben with her life.

Ben turned to face her, opened his arms and smiled. “Come back to England with me.”

A whole vista of beautiful possibility opened up before Rey’s mind’s eye. Travelling, summers spent with her best friend in the country, attending the famed winter balls in London, horse-riding, archery, walks, parties together, all the things they had dreamed of together as children and had never been allowed to do. 

She desperately wanted it. But even a Revolution could not remove the barriers of a society that did not allow unmarried and unengaged couples to live together as they pleased. She said as much to Ben.

He nodded understandingly. “I know. And it would be equally unallowable for you, a young lady, to travel alone—though if it were up to me you would do as you pleased.”

Rey nodded. It was a bittersweet comment.

But Ben hadn’t finished. “And this is why I am proposing to you.”

There was complete silence in the room except for the crackling of the fire. Rey searched Ben’s face, there was no hint of mockery or joke in it. “Proposing… to marry me? You’re making me a marriage proposal?” she asked.

“Yes. I know we’re just friends, and I don’t expect or want you to fall in love with me. And I wouldn’t make you do anything—anything that you didn’t want to do, I promise you.” His face flushed a little. “In the interests of protecting you from very real danger, and in the capacity of your very best friend in the whole world, I’m offering you my hand and everything I have to share with you so that we can live a comfortable life together in England.”

Rey couldn’t hold his gaze any longer and stared into the crackling flames, biting her lip. “I… Ben… this is very unexpected. You’ll… I’ll have to think about this.”

“Of course, you can take your time, but not too long,” he said, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Time is running out, and if we plan on being able to get out of the country, we must go soon.”

Rey reached up to just brush the top of his hand. “I understand. Would you—would you excuse me?” she asked.

Ben dropped his hand instantly. “Of course, you need never ask!” he exclaimed.

Rey went out to the noisy ballroom and took a seat in the corner. She pecked at a bowl of fruit absentmindedly, trying to get a grip on her thoughts. She’d been given a choice. On the one hand, safety and an adventure with her best friend. On the other hand, staying in Paris where she might be imprisoned or worse. 

At first glance it seemed like an obvious choice, but if she stayed, she would keep her freedom to love and passion. Ben wouldn’t hurt her or force her into anything, she knew that, but she would be… trapped. It would be a different kind of cage to the physical one she might be imprisoned in if she stayed, but a cage nonetheless. What kind of choice was this, to choose between cages! Rather a physical one than one of the heart!

But then again, it was with Ben. Life with Ben could be quite tolerable—enjoyable even. But what if she fell in love with someone else?

She was rudely disturbed from her thoughts by Hux sitting heavily down beside her. “I hope you don’t mind me intruding on your pretty reverie, ma chère,” he said, putting his hand on her knee.

Rey minded very much. She batted his hand away. “Please don’t call me that.”

Hux refused to take the hint. “Does this mean I might soon be allowed to call you something else, something—much dearer?”

“Are you… are you proposing to me?” Rey asked for the second time that night. She laid her head back against the back of the chair. She was so done with proposals for one night. She wished all men would just vanish off the face of the earth for twenty four hours just to give her some peace. But it was not to be.

“I truly want you to be my wife.” Hux carried on in a low voice. “We will build a new France together! And Rey—it’s the only way you’ll be protected.”

Rey shifted suddenly to face him, arms crossed. “Why does everyone want to protect me all of a sudden? I can protect myself!”

Hux’s voice lost its softness. “Your grandfather is on our list for crimes against the people, and you will be found complicit. By marrying me, you can demonstrate your strong alliance with the people and and reject your family heritage. Don’t you see? It’s the only way!”

“What is the punishment for crimes against the people?” Rey asked.

“Death.” Hux said shortly.

Rey’s only betrayal of the storm of fear that crashed over her at that moment was a blink.

“And don’t get me wrong, I am taking a great risk by extending you this offer.” Hux continued. “I may be seen to by allying myself with the aristocracy and all I have worked so hard for will be undone.”

Rey broke in quickly, grasping for this escape. “And that is why… I cannot marry you. It is, as you said, too great a risk to you.”

“Are you rejecting me?” Hux frowned, thunder forming in his eyes.

Rey shivered, and took a deep breath. Courage. “Yes. I can find my own way out of France and find a safe haven in England.”

The storm broke. “You can never do that, you must marry me!” Hux hissed. He jumped up and stared down at her.

Rey pulled at his arm. “Hux, sit down! They will hear you!” The were getting stares from nearby groups. “I can do that and I will. Ben will help me. There is no need for us to marry.”

Hux sat down at her insistence and continued in a lower voice, “But, ma chère, I want to marry you! You are so beautiful. I desire you with my whole body and I want you to be my own.”

Rey felt disgusted. Of course he would only want her for her body. “I’m sorry Hux,” she said, looking away, “I refuse.” She got up as if to leave.

Hux grabbed her arm, pulling her roughly back to face him. “Is this about Ben? You’re going to marry him instead of me?” He growled threateningly. “Because if you choose to marry him, I can promise you that you will never be allowed to leave Paris. I will order them to stop you and keep you here until your trial!”

Rey wrenched her arm free and rubbed at it. It felt bruised. “This is about you, hux, and the Revolution. I don’t want to be a part of something that has already claimed innocent lives and will claim a thousand more. It’s not right!” She told him in a fierce whisper.

“It’s about justice, Rey!” Hux shouted after her as she walked away. “And I will have you, in the end!”

Rey went to find Ben. He was picking restlessly at the leftover trifle in the dining room, a glass of wine in her hand. He turned to her and set down his glass as she said his name.

Hesitatingly, she approached him, but he closed the distance between them in two quick strides. “Ben… I’m here to say—yes. Let’s go, as soon as possible.”

Ben searched her eyes, and then he hugged her hard. “I will not fail you, my dearest—friend. I will get a marriage license and we’ll be married before the week is out.”

Rey stepped away after hugging him back tightly. “It won’t change anything between us, will it?” she asked.

“It won’t, I promise. We’ll just be spending a lot more time together, that’s all.” Ben said reassuringly, handing her a bowl of trifle which she shovelled gratefully into her mouth. “And that certainly won’t be a hardship for me!”

Rey swallowed and smiled at him, blinking away relieved tears. “Me neither Ben. Me neither.”


	2. Caught

The chapel was almost empty, that fateful day.

Rey had pleaded for her grandfather to come, but he had been shocked and furious at the impromptu circumstances of the wedding. He completely dismissed the reasons for it. Even after the King’s execution he had refused to believe he was in danger and now he viewed Rey’s decision as a very rash elopement. Lord Ben Solo was indeed a fine man with wealth and an estate to his name; indeed, he had had Ben under his guardianship himself after Ben’s father’s death, but why couldn’t they wait until all the madness had settled down and they could have a celebration worthy of their status? It was all most embarrassing. Rey was a far too headstrong girl.

Therefore, the only witnesses were the priest, Ben’s manservant, and two of Rey’s nicer acquaintances.

Rey didn’t mind. She’d privately always dreamed of a secret wedding, no massive pomp and show of wealth, just her and her beloved in a tiny chapel bursting with flowers. Although Ben was not exactly her beloved, but she had never expected to be so happy about a marriage that wasn’t a love match. She felt confident that Ben would always respect her, and that was more than she could say of Hux, or any other man.

In fact, it felt wildly—right, allowing him to place the gold ring on her finger, uttering the words of their vows, “I will,” binding their fates together forever. There was not one cold feeling in Rey’s heart.

Ben had booked a little suit of rooms where they could stay after the wedding before leaving Paris, as Snoke had made it abundantly clear that the pair would not be welcomed as a married couple together under his roof. They returned there for the wedding breakfast alone, though in reality it was not breakfast, but supper. The food was a delicious cold spread, not nearly as grand as at her grandfather’s house, but good food nonetheless.

It was not until the end of the meal that Rey asked when they would be leaving.

Ben finished his hard boiled egg and brushed off his fingers. “Tomorrow, I hope. I was hoping we could cross on the mailboat, which will be more inconspicuous.” he said. “I don’t anticipate that there will be too much difficulty in getting out of the city, or off the coast, because I’m a foreigner.”

Rey put down her cold chicken leg she’d been attacking and licked her fingers. “Actually there might be some difficulty.”

Ben frowned. “Why?”

“Hux. Um, Hux said that if I married you, he would order the gate guards not to let me leave. Or you. And he knows about the wedding from Grand-père,” Rey explained, watching his eyes darken.

Ben put his knife and fork down slowly. “Hux will not allow us to leave?”

Rey shook her head. “No he won’t. He’s angry. He’s Robespierre’s right hand man, he can order the guard to do that.”

“But why?” Ben asked in surprise and consternation.

Rey wiped her fingers on a napkin and took a slice of cake which she stuffed in her mouth before answering, avoiding his eyes.

Ben leaned forward to make her catch his eye. “Why, Rey?”

Rey spoke, blushing, with her mouth full. “Because he’s jealous. Of you.” she said, as if that should have been plainly obvious.

“Jealous?” Ben drew back and frowned. “Did he… make you an offer?”

Rey swallowed her mouthful and dabbed at her lips. “Yes. At the ball… right after you, actually. He said—he said he loved me and he could save me from the Revolution.”

“And what did you say?” Ben asked sharply.

Rey snorted. “I told him to shut his mouth and keep his blood stained hands off me.”

Ben leaned back and crossed his arms. “Why on earth didn’t you tell me this before our nuptials? Why did you wait to tell me?” His tone was hurt and angry.

“It—didn’t seem relevant before? Should I have told you?” Rey dodged, picking at the cake.

“Rey, our very plans for escape and—survival are being foiled by another of your suitors! I should say it’s relevant!” Ben’s anger and concern were a palpable cloud hanging over the table between them. 

Rey cringed internally: she knew Ben’s hot temper from long acquaintance, and knew it was best to be straight with him. “Well fine then. If you really want to know, it was because you might have made me marry him instead.”

Ben slammed his hands down on the table, making the drinks splash. “Of course I would have! Judging by how fervently he wants to keep you here, it was evidently a love match—“

“Ben, I—“ 

“You know I have nothing to offer you, save friendship and safe passage. And now the latter isn’t even an option any more!” he said.

Those words should not have stung Rey as deeply as they did, and she did not care to examine why. If he was so intent on pushing her away, then dammit, she would distance herself, and see how he liked it then. “Do you regret marrying me now? After only hours?”

The effect on Ben was immediate, and he softened a little. “No… but out lives may be on the line. I’m—not sure how I feel about all—this.”

There was pregnant silence between them for a moment.

“Why did you choose me and not him?” Ben asked. “Surely he wants you more.”

Rey sighed. “Wants me is the right word. He never said he loved me. My life was always on the line, Ben, I was only given a choice between different kinds of prisons.”

Ben jumped up from the table, sending his chair over with a crash. “So I’m nothing more than another prison!” he snapped furiously. “Well, I’m glad to know what you really feel about me!”

“Ben!” Rey shouted, but Ben was louder.

“Don’t bother responding, there’s nothing you can say. You’ll get your passage out of France and then you’ll be free of me! And of the prison I represent!” 

Rey jumped up herself and met his glare across the table. “You’re so selfish! You’re only making this worse! What was I supposed to do, stay here and face the guillotine?”

“By your own admission, you had another option, Hux, not the guillotine! Evidently I’m the one being used for my kindness!” Ben shouted.

Rey looked around, not wanting unwelcome attention from any servants. “Hux is not an innocent man,” she hissed in a lower voice, “he’s with the Revolution, and I do not want to be a part of that! And do you think I want a man who only desires me for my body? Is that the kind of woman you think I am?”

“Should I feel flattered that you’d rather sleep with a rich husband than a fighting cur?” Ben said harshly, more harshly than he meant to. He was distraught with Rey for hiding key information from him and worried about what it meant for them.

The words only served to make Rey even hotter with fury. “If that’s what you were hoping, Lord Ben Solo, then you’re sadly mistaken. I chose you because I hoped you were an honourable man, and wouldn’t try to take me against my will—like Hux would!” She spat out every word.

Ben took that as a direct accusation. “I would never! I consider myself a good man, and someone deserving of a wife who actually wants to be with me. You’re not the only one making sacrifices here, I hope you know that!” he said, his voice shaking. “I’ve yielded the entire image I had of my future for our friendship, only to be lied to!”

“Are you trying to make me feel guilty for taking you up on your offer when it was just that?” Rey said, her voice rising to a pitch. “Or were you hoping it would be something more?”

Ben seemed taken aback at that, and took a deep breath. “No. I just want you to realise that this is it for me. It’s not ideal for either of us… but how can we be partners when I can’t trust you?”

“What do you want to know?” Rey asked, still angry. “All my secrets? Right now there is hardly a person in Paris who is trustworthy!”

Ben was calmer now, and the effect was slowly getting to Rey. “I can’t protect you if I don’t know where the danger is coming from.” Ben was calmer now, and the effect was slowly calming Rey too. “You could have told me this. I could have made a plan for your safety. I’m not sure how we’re going to do this now.”

Rey took a deep breath and sighed. She went around the table to be nearer him. “I’m sorry,” she said. “We’ll do this together.”

This was how it always was. Rey thanked all their years together that it was so easy to apologise and make up. Ben gave her a sad smile. “I’m sorry I lost my temper and questioned your honour.”

Rey nodded.

“I’m… afraid, Rey.” he said, looking down.

“Afraid of what?” She asked, trying to catch his eye.

“Of death. Of pain. I need to be strong for you, I’ve been planning this for months, and it feels like it’s already falling to pieces,” Ben put covered his eyes with one hand.

Rey reached out and squeezed his other hand.

“I know, I have to be brave. Everything will be okay. We’ll get through this somehow,” Ben said, taking a deep breath.

“It will,” Rey said firmly. “Listen, I’ll tell you something. There is a circus, in the fields just outside of Paris. When the Revolution started, it turned itself into a hiding place for those on the line. It travels from Paris to the coast every month, and it takes aristos with it in secret, disguised as performers and circus folk. My maid is the sister of one of the performers there. It’s a huge secret among the aristos. So if we can just get out of Paris, we can travel with the circus and not get stopped on the road.”

“Rey that’s—“

“But it leaves tomorrow morning,” Rey finished.

“We have little time to lose then,” Ben said, already going to ring the bell for service. “We should at least try to get out this evening. Maybe Hux won’t have heard about the wedding yet…” even as he said it he knew he was grasping at straws.

Rey jumped up. “You’re right. I’ll tell the staff to pack our things.”

A hired carriage rolled up to the gate, the rack piled high with luggage. The city guards stopped the driver with a rough shout. “Papers!”

The driver handed down his own and was cleared with a nod; then the guard thumped on the carriage door. Ben opened it. “The English Lord Benjamin Solo and wife, good citizen.” He said shortly, every muscle tense but trying not to show it.

The guard narrowed his eyes. “Who’s the wife?” 

Ben swallowed. “The Lady Rey,” he said.

The guard’s head jerked up. “Got special orders on you. You can’t come through. Turn around, go home.” He signalled up to the driver who reluctantly began to turn the horses. “And you might not get so lucky next time so don’t try it!” He spat into the carriage and slammed the door shut.

Ben leaned his head back against the carriage seat and closed his eyes.

“It could have been a lot worse,” Rey said brightly. She could not have made a more dreadful remark at that moment: it only served to make Ben think of all the terrible ways it could and likely would be worse.

Ben’s head snapped up. “I don’t want to think about it!” he said roughly.

Rey shrank back into the corner of the carriage. This was all her fault, she knew. He had sacrificed so much to do this for her, and now they couldn’t get out. And if she were destined for the guillotine, surely he would too, as her now closest relation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to Discord friend TristenCrone (https://archiveofourown.org/users/TristenCrone/pseuds/TristenCrone) for helping me with the dialogue in this chapter! I couldn’t have done it without her!


	3. Escape

There was only one bed in the apartment suite. Rey climbed into it, tired and scared and shivery, all alone. Ben was still in the living room, making his way through a bottle of whiskey. They hadn’t said a word all evening, the distance and the unspoken guilt and fear and anger growing between them until it was almost unbearable. The sheets were cold. 

When Ben climbed into the other side of the bed an hour later, Rey was still wide awake in the dark. She pretended to be asleep though, lying on her side with her back to him. 

“I’m cold,” she said in a small voice.

Ben still said nothing. Rey thought he must be angrily ignoring her until she felt a huge warm arm close over and around her, and a warm chest against her back. She froze very still, unsure what to do. She had never shared a bed with anyone—this was completely new to her—and secretly, she found she loved it.

Ben nuzzled into her hair. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep my promise,” he whispered.

Rey relaxed, leaning into his spoon, slipping her hand into the one that was wrapped around her.

“I’m sorry for today,” she whispered. 

“It’s alright. It will all be alright. I’m sorry for being so angry,” he whispered back. Rey could feel his breath against her. 

She snuggled into his warmth. It was not quite true that she had never slept in the same bed as another person, she remembered now. When Ben had been staying with her grandfather for tutoring, and they’d both been quite young, she seven and he eleven, there had been a massive thunderstorm. She was mortally afraid of thunderstorms, but had been deemed too old to sleep with the nurse at that age. So she had crept out of bed and gone to find Ben, who had endeared himself to her on the first day by giving her his illustrated book of Gulliver’s Travels, though she barely spoke English back then. (In return she had led him around the house and shown him every single secret nook and cranny and special place that grand pierre Palpatine didn’t know about.) She’d climbed into Ben’s cot, whispered in his ear that she didn’t like thunderstorms and could he please keep them away for her, and promptly fallen asleep in his arms. She had memories of feeling warm and cosy and loved and safe, though Ben probably wasn’t even awake, and she’d been badly scolded the next morning when the nurse found her with Ben. Rey smiled at the memory and asked Ben whether he remembered.

“Oh yes, I do remember. You were very heavy and warm, and I felt quite important to be guarding you. It was the best night’s sleep I ever got.” he grinned.

They talked about their childhood and their shared memories. As they chatted in murmurs, Rey released all her tension and anxiousness. Soon both of them were in that perfect suspended state between waking and sleeping, wrapped in each others arms, revelling in the intimacy, until the moment they both slept.

“I have an idea of how we can get out past the guards,” Rey said over breakfast. “Forgery won’t get us anywhere if they recognise our faces. We’ll have to disguise ourselves.”

“I’m listening,” Ben said, his hair comically ruffled up and his shirt untucked. “But we have to go immediately or the circus will leave without us. We don’t have much time for preparations.” 

That afternoon at the gate, a wrinkled old woman rolled up driving a cart. 

“Papers!” The guard demanded.

“You don’t want to come near me!” The old lady cackled. “My grandson’s in the back, got the plague, he has.” She pointed over her shoulder with her whip and a sickly scrawny young man poked his head out. The guards jumped back quickly in fear. The plague was highly contagious and almost always fatal. Pressing cloths over their mouths and noses, they frantically waved the woman through.

Ten minutes later a pair of city guards galloped up to the gate on horseback. “Did a woman with a cart come through just now?” The captain shouted down to the gate guards.

“Indeed! Her grandson had the plague, most terrible thing.”

“You fools! That was Lord Benjamin Solo and his Lady Rey!” The Captain yelled.

The guards paled, and one jumped to open the gate.

You had specific orders to keep them in and they’ve fooled you with a simple trick! After them!” he shouted, spurring his horse through the gate with the other mounted guard, sword outstretched, to give chase. 

The guards slammed the gate shut guiltily behind them. Citoyen Hux was going to be wrathful, and they dreaded it. 

The guards gave chase for miles before catching up with the old woman and her grandson. She was fast, and spurred her poor scrawny steed to speeds even it didn’t know it could go, trying to put distance between them and Paris.

Too soon she heard the sound of galloping hoofs behind her and “Halt! Citoyenne!”

She pulled the cart to a halt and the two guards circled around her. 

The smaller of the guards took off her hat, revealing the long chestnut curls of the lady Rey herself. She turned to the Captain, who was laughing and shaking with relief. “Ben, I can’t believe that disguise actually worked!”

Ben and Rey jumped lightly down from their horses and Rey ran to greet her maid. “Marie! You were wonderful!”

“You were very brave yourself, ma’am,” said Rey’s maid, climbing down from the cart to check on the luggage and on Ben’s personal manservant.

“It was all her idea,” Ben said, putting his hand on Rey’s shoulder. “And can I just say, Rey, you look absolutely dashing in that livery and hat.”

Rey smiled, and, since she was feeling very daring dressed in a man’s uniform, she stood up on tiptoes and pressed a feather light kiss on his cheek.

Ben gave a small gasp, and made as if to turn into the kiss, but he caught himself, shook his head and smiled at Rey as if his whole being hadn’t been shaken up by that one platonic kiss, leaving him somehow breathless for more. She was his friend, she shouldn’t make him feel this way! Shouldn’t leave him longing for her touch again, even for a moment. For her to look into his eyes with laughter and love.

He started out of his reverie when Rey’s maid, Marie, pulled a tiny dirty hand-drawn map out of her clothes and declared that the circus should be close by here somewhere, perhaps a little further down the road, if it hadn’t left yet. Ben helped Rey mount again—she was a strong rider but her petite size made mounting a difficult without a mounting block—and they both trotted down the road at an easy pace with the cart trundling along behind.

They found the circus more easily than they expected. The camp was in absolute uproar as it was in the process of being dismantled, and the appearance of what appeared to be two mounted guards there to search the camp only served to add to the chaos. 

They were greeted by a golden haired man throwing up his hands yelling “Oh! Guards! We’re doomed! Oh, I should have known it would end this way! Please don’t hurt me! I’m just a simple citizen trying to make his way in the world… oh Artoo, we’re doomed…” This last was directed at his dog that was running around and around his legs in frantic circles.

“No no, you don’t understand! Citoyen! We’re friends!” Ben tried and failed to interrupt him several times but luckily his cries brought out another man from inside a tent that was in the process of being collapsed. The man clapped the golden one on the shoulder. “Relax, Pio.” He addressed Ben and Rey. “Citizens! What business?”

Rey jumped down and took her hat off. “I’m Lady Rey with my husband, Lord Ben Solo. We seek safe passage to the coast.”

The man’s face broke into a wide grin. “Ay, had us almost scared!” He held out his hand. “Poe Dameron. You’d better come inside.”

Rey looked down at his hand, unused to the familiarity from one so far below her social class. Happy though confused by the gesture, she shook it with a warm smile.

“War doth make equals of us all,” the man quoted grandly, and repeated the gesture to Ben, who took his hand unreservedly. They followed Poe into his caravan, where an older lady was knitting, whom Poe introduced as Madame Leia Organa. 

“Why are you got up like city guards?” Madame Organa asked as they sat around a tiny table in a caravan that smelled strongly and not unpleasantly of stew.

“My spurned lover, Hux, wouldn’t let us out of the city and I was about to be arrested any day in virtue of my grandfather’s inexcusable crimes against the people.” Rey explained.

Poe frowned. “I know of Hux. He’s the very devil on the trail. I’d better tell them to hurry up with the packing, we need to get out of here.”

“Let them finish the story,” Leia said.

“So we ‘borrowed’ our old horses from her grandfather’s stable, bribed a few people for uniforms, and sent Rey’s maid and my manservant on ahead in some truly awful makeup.” Ben went on. They told him all about the ruse, which made Poe almost cry with laughter.

When they had finished, Poe went out, still giggling, to hurry up the packing, and Ben and Rey were left with Madame Organa. She was a very beautiful woman, dressed in silvery grey, her up in an elaborate bun. She exuded command and confidence.

“What are your best skills?” she asked them. “While you’re here you must make yourselves useful and earn your way.”

“I’m good at dancing, uh, needlework, I ride well…” Rey racked her brains.

Leia nodded. “I’ll let the acrobats teach you a few easy tricks, and you can help with the costumes,” she said. “And what about you, young man?”

Ben had answer all ready. “I’m good with horses and children—and I’m also a good dancer,”

“Very good, you can help with the animals and minding the children, and I’ll also let the acrobats look after you. You look strong, and we’ve been needing someone your size for lifting and things in the acrobat department.” She went to the door and yelled at the top of her lungs, “FINN! ROSE!” A man and a woman came running immediately. “Take these two in hand, give them the spare caravan, and teach them a few tricks,” Madame Organa ordered.

Rey slipped her hand into Ben’s as they followed Finn and Rose across the field. “It’s going to be very different here,” she whispered.

“We’ll be okay,” he said, “as long as we stick together.” He squeezed her hand.


	4. Flight

A day into their journey, Ben managed to catch the mail coach and send a letter on ahead to England. Since catching a ferry across the channel might be dangerous, he sent instructions for his small private yacht to be sailed over to Calais to meet them and take them back.

As the crow flew, Calais was only three day’s journey from Paris. However, the circus travelled slowly with all its equipment, and made a long detour to perform in a town en-route, three days out of Paris. Ben and Rey were to perform with them.

Rey was horrified by the costume that was left for her in the caravan. She’d gotten used to the freedom of wearing boys clothes or light skirts around the camp and at practice sessions, but this was different. She held up the skimpy sequinned outfit up against her for Ben to see. “I’m seriously supposed to wear this? I’ll be half naked!”

An image of Rey wearing the sheer skirt and little top flashed through Ben’s mind and he had to bite down on his lip to stop himself flushing and overthinking it. “I’m sure you’ll look fine, Rey.”

“I’ll look like a lady of the night is what I’ll look like,” Rey said.

“They’re selling tickets for the audience to look at you, what did you expect?”

Rey didn’t answer. She’d volunteered for this after all.

“Don’t worry, no one in the audience knows you, and none of them ever will. It will be our secret forever.”

“Hmm hmm,” Rey said, unconvinced. The dress rehearsal was about to start, so she reluctantly donned the outfit.

Ben and Rey had been given a tiny caravan to share, and though it had two separate bunks, they were still forced by necessity to live on uncomfortably intimate terms. They tried to stay out of each other’s way when they were changing clothes and other things, but it was still awakening feelings that both would rather leave undisturbed when Ben had to help Rey wash her hair in a bucket of water half-undressed, or when Rey caught Ben shirtless, about to sleep.

Ben left Rey to change and went to the main tent where the rehearsal for their act was about to begin. He was already in costume, not much better than Rey’s, a pair of very tight white trousers and an open shirt with a brilliantly sequinned waistcoat over the top. Finn and Rose, similarly bedecked, were very admiring of how it had turned out.

He petted and whispered sweet nothings to the performing horse until Rey appeared in the tent. He caught his breath. She was stunning. Her body was lithe and graceful, bouncing across the ring with playfulness. His heart leapt as she came to him, reached up her arms and twirled for him.

He forced a laugh. “Scandalous!” he grinned. “My great aunts would be turning in their graves. They were particularly stuffy about these things.” 

Rey laughed and gestured for him to help her up on the horse. He offered his knee as a step, the act bringing his eyes as exactly her waist level. He looked away to hide the heat that was coursing through him: it was as if someone had completely taken away the veil of seeing her as a childhood friend and revealed her to be what she truly was, a beautiful and talented woman. And yes, he desired her, but more than that, he loved her. He wanted to give her all the beautiful things he owned, to spend all the summer days with her and all the winter ones too, hold her hand as they walked though summer woods and spend winter evenings with her, and to serve her every wish. He wanted her to be the wife he’d always dreamed of having and he knew he could never be content with any other. And with that realisation came the icy thought that it could never be. She might spend a few summers with him, but always distant, only friends, never in the way he so longed for. Then she would get a divorce, find her real love, perhaps among his acquaintance. With a heavy heart he began to lead the horse around the ring.

Though Rey herself didn’t realise it, she was truly dazzling. Her act was very simple: it involved riding and doing simple tricks on the horse, but mainly supporting the trapeze artists above her as they performed, who were alternating between performing on the trapeze and the back of the horse. This was where they needed Rey: the trapeze artists couldn’t jump to the horse if there wasn’t a rider on it to assist them. Ben was there to lead the horse: a more skilled acrobat could have assisted the trapeze artists and directed the horse at the same time, but Rey had only been training for a couple of days and had not yet mastered the art. So Ben stood in the middle of the ring looking gorgeous and making sure the horse was calm and where it needed to be for the others.

Ben and Rey had become fast friends with Finn and Rose, and the hour passed quickly as they perfected the act and laughed and joked together. As he watched Rey laugh, sparkling and lovely on the back of the horse, Ben almost wished he could stay with the circus forever, and not have to go back to his responsibilities with the most beautiful wife in the world who did not love him.

That night was the night of their first performance. Rey was full of nerves as she changed into her costume, that she liked better now than when she first set eyes on it. It wasn’t just that she would be performing in front of a crowd—she’d been opening balls and performing the role of hostess in her grandfather’s house since the age of sixteen—but she would be performing in front of Ben… and for some reason that gave her flutters in her tummy. She wanted to impress him. 

Of course, that was only because he… was someone she looked up to, she reasoned with herself. He’s your friend, he’s not going to judge you. But somehow, that was deeply unsatisfying. She wanted something more.

And then there was the fact that he looked very sexy in his costume.

“And for our third act, please welcome our most daring performers in the whole of France! They fly! They ride! They perform feats of courage like you have never seen before!” Poe, in his bright outfit as Ring Master, hyped up the crowd as Rey trotted out on the costumed horse, led by Ben, trying to stay as steady as she could for Rose gripping her from behind as Finn stood on Rose’s back.

The crowd applauded thunderously as they made their way around the ring, and started their act without mishap.

As Rose jumped down from the trapeze and grabbed her, Rey swept the crowd with her eyes. She latched on to one particular face in the crowd. And froze. Hux.

Hux was looking straight at her.

Her mind filled with frantic questions, but she was unable to answer any of them: her attention was rudely jarred back to reality as Rose almost fell off due to her losing concentration.

She searched the ring for an escape, but leaving now would instantly give her away. She had to finish the act.

Focusing numbly on the performance, she managed to finish it even as her mind was filled with internal panicked screaming. She would be dragged back to Paris. Forced to face the guillotine. Ben too, if the British government didn’t intervene. It was over. They were found out. And of course the circus would be slaughtered or disbanded for harbouring fugitives.

At long last the act was over. It felt like hours, and Rey felt Hux’s eyes follow her wherever she went.

As soon as they were out of site of the crowd, she told Ben and Finn and Rose. She had a hard time making them understand through her panic.

“He will surely come to find us!” She said tearfully.

“You have to hide, you have to run,” Finn said. “Go to your caravan. There’s a little space under the floorboards specially designed for this.”

“It’ll be a tight fit but you’ll have to make do,” Rose said.

“Can’t we disguise ourselves, like last time?” Ben asked. “Or wait, no, I have a better idea—can’t we have one of you dress in Rey’s costume?”

“That’s brilliant.” Finn said.

“So that when he comes asking for the performer you can say he was mistaken—“

“Kaydel could do it, she’s the closest one in size and looks,” Rose said. “I’ll find her, Rey, run and change!”

In record time, Kaydel was dressed in Rey’s costume and Rey had helped her do her hair in the three buns, same as hers, and Rey and Ben were climbing into the secret compartment below the floorboards in their caravan. It was a tight squeeze. Ben was not a petite human being by any means.

At last they managed to find a comfortable position with Ben’s arm acting as a pillow for Rey, squished up side by side.

“How long do you think it will take for them to leave?” Rey asked. “Do you think they’ll search the camp?”

“I don’t know,” Ben whispered back.

They were silent for a while, listening intently to every sound they could hear outside for signs of danger, clutching each other when footsteps came too near the caravan. Time passed, feeling like hours. Rey was feeling claustrophobic, so she focused on Ben. He smelled like horse, and he was soft.

“Why did you plan all this?” she asked after a while.

“All what?”

“Rescuing me. Hell, marrying me. You gave up a future with a wife you could have loved just to get me out of France.”

Ben was silent for a moment. “There was no other way.”

Rey snorted, and immediately regretted it: there was so much dust in the air in here. “Surely you could have found another way. You could have sent servants or friends for me. You could have got me to leave by myself.”

“Hardly proper for a young lady,” Ben answered.

“Ben, nothing we are doing is proper. Travelling with the circus is not proper. You and me in those costumes is not proper!” 

Rey waited for an answer in the pregnant silence.

“You look so damn gorgeous in that costume,” Ben said quietly. “I… I fell in love.”

“With how sexy I looked? No Ben, I told you, we’ve been over this—“

“Yes yes, you love me only as a friend. Have no worries on that score, it was only a fleeting thought, gone in an instant,” he said bitterly.

Rey felt her heart squeeze in disappointment, but she brushed it aside. She could never fall in love with Ben. It would make every moment that he did not love her back a torture. She just wanted to enjoy this unexpected carefree time with him. She decided to change the subject to a less painful one. “What do you think it will be like, meeting all your friends and acquaintance with me?”

Ben sighed. “I think they’ll approve of you. You are well born, which unfortunately matters quite a lot to some people, and we’ve known each other for a long time. There will be no scandal. Besides, we’ll never tell them about… all this, the circus and everything.”

“Mm hmm… I meant, what will it be like between us? I know I will not be able to stop laughing every time you introduce me as your wife.”

“Why’s that?” Ben chuckled.

“Because I will be only able to think of you turning up that fine day and telling me, ‘hey since we’re best friends let’s get married and join the circus!’ And you and me in these costumes doing acrobatics,” Rey laughed quietly.

“Do you remember planning to run away to sea together when we were children? Monsieur Palpatine had been particularly unkind that day, so we planned the whole thing. You were going to dress up as a boy in my clothes and we were going to take the mail coach together to Calais and stow away on a trading ship to the New World!”

“Oh goodness, yes! Why didn’t we, in the end? I remember packing my doll and everything.”

“Your nanny said we could have cake together in the nursery for supper, so we decided to stay until then, and then I think by the morning we’d forgotten about it.” Ben said.

“We could still do it. Run away to sea together? We could take your yacht and sail it around the world!”

Ben laughed. “I can think of nothing I’d like more than to sail around the world with you, Rey!”

“Hush! Hush!” Rey suddenly whispered frantically as footsteps approached the caravan. They came up the steps and opened the door… and then someone was right above them. That someone stamped on the floorboards.

“You can come out now, it’s safe!” Finn’s voice called down.

Rey and Ben pushed the trapdoor open with relief and crawled out, blinking and shaking the dust out of their hair. “What happened?” Rey asked. 

“He came asking for you in person,” Finn said. “We produced Kaydel and said we didn’t know you.”

“Did that work?” Ben asked.

“He was suspicious, but he didn’t press the matter. I don’t think he believed us. Poe and Madame Organa have agreed that it would be too dangerous for us to stay another night here, but we should press on to Calais.”

Ben and Rey nodded. In all the fun of having an adventure, it was too easy to forget that the danger of the guillotine was very real.


	5. Freedom

Two days later, they were approaching Calais. It was raining hard.

Ben had sent a messenger on ahead to see if his yacht was waiting for him, and if so, to give it specific instructions. The messenger came back that evening just as they were setting up camp on the coast outside of Calais. The yacht was ready and waiting for them in a bay about a mile away.

“Will you make tonight’s performance with us or will you leave now?” Rose asked as the four of them tethered and groomed the horses together in the rain.

“We’ll be hard done to do the performance without you,” Finn added.

Ben looked up at the sky. “I’ve already sent on our luggage ahead, but there’s a storm coming. It shouldn’t impede the channel crossing too much, it’ll be choppy and…” he looked at Rey, who smiled gratefully. He knew Rey would be terrified of the thunderstorm, especially at sea.

At that moment there was shouting at the other side of the camp, and Pio and his dog Artoo came sprinting towards them. “Guards!” He panted. “We’re doomed. They were waiting for us and they’re here to search the camp! For you two specifically! Oh, what are we to do—the odds of surviving this are—”

“Shut up Pio. Gosh, Hux must have sent word ahead—“ Rose said.

“I should have guessed he was going to do that,” Rey groaned.

“You have to leave, right now,” Finn said, and began to saddle the horses back up that belonged to Ben and Rey. “Get to your boat. If you ride hard you should be able to make it—“

“But we can’t take the horses on the ship!” Rey pointed out.

“Don’t worry, we’ll send them back to the circus. Payment, for everything you’ve done for us,” Ben told Rose, who hugged Ben quickly.

“That is a generous gift, we’ll take good care of them,” Rose said. “Now go!”

Ben gave Rey a leg up, and leapt on his own horse. Through the rain and gloom, they stalked quietly around the back of the caravans, trying to avoid the attention of the four mounted guards who were now rampaging through the camp.

The camp was unfortunately set up on the side of a hill, which they had to cross over to ride to the coast. The couple managed to get away from the camp and rode hard to the top of the hill, praying that the rain would be enough to hide them. But the first of the lightning flashed, showing them clear against the horizon on the top of the hill. Rey screamed in terror of the storm. The guards spotted them.

“Ride, ride, ride!” Ben yelled just before the thunder crashed over them. 

They spurred their horses down the slope at a gallop.

At the bottom of the slope Ben looked back. The guards were clearly visible on the ridge, just before they plunged down the slope after them. 

The cliffs were right before them. Ben urged his horse east along the top of the cliffs, and Rey grit her teeth and followed him. The thunder was rolling almost constantly now, and it was taking her all she had just to focus on following Ben and staying on.

The guards swung around after them, their horses slowly but surely gaining on them.

And then the guards opened fire.

The rain made visibility difficult, so they were wildly off the mark, but at the first shot, Rey’s horse, the more fretful of the two, went into a full rear. Rey was unable to keep her seat and was thrown.

“Ben!” She screamed.

Ben turned just in time to see Rey fall and tumble off the edge of the cliff.

“Rey!” He screamed. He pulled up his horse and leapt down, running full tilt to the edge of the cliff.

Rey was hanging on by her fingertips a meter down. 

“Hang on, Rey, I’m coming!” 

He looked up to see where the guards were: two of them had peeled off to chase Rey’s bolted horse, and the other two were coming for him and his horse. Quick as the lightning that was flashing overhead, he hitched up his horse’s reigns so they wouldn’t get tangled and sent her off with a slap in the direction of the circus. “Run Stella, run,” he told her. It wasn’t ideal to send her off in full saddle and bridle but he had no choice. Finn or Rose would find her quickly anyway.

With satisfaction he watched the guards ride off after her. They would soon discover her riderless but it would buy them precious moments.

“Rey, can you climb up to me?” He called down over the wind that was roaring up the cliff face from the sea. He lay down flat on his stomach on the muddy grass and reached his arm down.

Rey reached up for him, but only the tips of her fingers brushed his. She looked up at him with wide eyes, drenched in rain. “It’s a sheer overhang,” she said, her voice barely loud enough. “I can’t make it… and I’m slipping!”

Ben searched the cliff with his eyes to see if there was any other way. And then he glimpsed it: a tiny footpath. “Rey! There’s a little footpath just below you! Can you climb down to it?”

He regretted asking her to look down the moment it was out of his mouth. She glanced down, and clung tighter against the cliff with her eyes shut. It didn’t help that at that moment, the thunder rolled over again.

There was nothing for it but to come down and get her. Ben looked along and found the start of the footpath a little ways to his right, and began to make his way down it. Already tiny, the rain made it treacherous, but he clung to the cliff and finally made it to Rey. “Rey, I’m here. I’m going to get ahold of you, and help you down to the path, okay?” 

She nodded mutely, still with her eyes closed. She had been so strong and fearless for him at the beginning, when the danger had been the threat of capture and torture, but now against the elements, he had to be the strong one for her. He reached up and just managed to grab hold of her waist. Feeling his hands around her, she tentatively moved a hand, a leg, shifting her weight down the cliffside, freezing every time the thunder came.

There was a shout up on the clifftop. The guards were back. 

Furious at finding the horses riderless, they had now come back and were searching the clifftop for the fugitives. It was only a matter of time before they looked over the edge and found them, helpless and vulnerable, clinging to the cliffside.

There was nothing for it but to manually lift Rey down. It nearly cost Ben both their lives as her weight came heavily down on top of him, almost toppling him, but he managed to keep his footing firm.

“Are you alright?” He whispered in her ear, his cheek on hers.

She nodded and then quickly, without warning, turned and kissed him on the mouth.

The kiss took him completely by surprise. Frozen in shock for a moment, he was about to kiss her back with everything he had, but a shout from the clifftop wrenched him back to the harsh reality of the situation.

“Down, we have to get down and around the headland,” Ben said, pointing to where the path headed downwards and around a bend in the cliff. Rey nodded and took hold of his hand with one hand and the cliff side with the other and began scrambling down the path ahead of him.

The rain was pelting down and made the path slippery and treacherous. In places it narrowed to barely a foot’s width, and they had to turn and hug the cliffside as they edged along it. 

They were almost around the bend when the guards finally began searching over the edge of the cliff.

“Freeze, freeze!” Ben whispered to Rey in panic. She understood. They both clung to the cliff, spreadeagled, as still as they could, hoping that the rain and their dark clothes would be enough to hide them from view. 

The wind and the constant thunder made it nearly impossible to hear what the guards were saying, but it seemed to Ben as if they were tired and ready to give up the chase. Just a few more minutes and perhaps they would leave…

“Ben,” Rey whispered urgently. He squeezed her hand to let her know that he was listening. “Ben, I can’t—the rocks—I’m slipping—“

That was when the ledge gave way beneath her and went crashing down the cliff. Rey screamed. She was left hanging by one hand to the cliff and the other to Ben.

The crash alerted the guards, and with a yell they began scrambling down the path towards the pair.

Ben grabbed Rey with both hands and hauled her up beside him. They clung to each other, trapped between the oncoming guards and the meter wide break in the path. Below them the storm-whipped surf crashed in huge breakers. If they fell, they would not survive.

Behind them, one of the guards fired on them. The shot went wide.

Ben and Rey watched in horror as the gun kickback overbalanced the guard’s precarious footing, and in slow motion he went flailing over the cliff and fell screaming to his death. 

His comrades tried to grab for him, but could only watch in shock. It was many minutes before either party could move.

The remaining guards looked up at Ben and Rey with renewed hate in their eyes.

“Rey, we’re going to have to jump the gap.” Ben said, glancing between the guards and the treacherous gap. 

“I can’t…” she said.

“You have to. Come on, you’re a strong acrobat! You’ve jumped further than that! Pretend it’s the ring, or the dance floor.” Ben encouraged.

“Perhaps you could go first, and help catch me,” Rey said.

Ben knew that was a good idea, but it took precious seconds for him to be able to screw his courage up to jump it. He made it though, landing on all fours, badly scraping his hands and knees as he did so.

“Rey, come on!” He held out his arms to her.

She screwed her eyes tight shut and opened them again, as if somehow that would wake her up from this nightmare and she’d find herself in her own bed, or perhaps already in England, in bed beside Ben.

She stepped back a pace, and then took a running leap with all her might.

She landed, crashing into Ben and almost overbalancing him. Luckily the path was wider here and Ben took it with a step back. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. “If we don’t make this, I want you to know that I love you. I truly love you with all my heart and I always have,” he told her earnestly.

The shock of it all, and most of all the revelation of how deeply she cared for Ben in return was too much for Rey to handle. She burst into tears. Ben drew back, concerned, but she pulled him back and kissed him frantically on the mouth. “I love you too Ben… I…”

“I know,” he said, “Come on, we’ve made it this far. The yacht is just around the corner.”

They scrambled on down the path. Many times they lost their footing, but were saved by clinging to each other or to the cliff face. 

As they finally made it to the corner around the headland, they looked back. The guards had stopped at the gap and seemed to be furiously daring each other to jump it. None of them had dared to fire on Rey and Ben since what happened to their comrade. Rey almost laughed aloud as Ben saluted them, English style, and the guards did nothing but to shake their fists at him. Then they rounded the corner as the cliff turned and cut deeply inland.

The path grew wider, and land below them rose sharply up into a small beach where a rowboat was waiting to take them out to the little yacht anchored in the bay, its stern light shining welcomingly. _The Falcon_ was painted on its side.

Rey and Ben practically ran down the path to the beach, but at the bottom, Ben turned and swept Rey up in his arms, kissing her passionately. She returned the kiss deeply, with love and relief, immune now to the thunder and the wind from the sea and the crashing of the waves

“And now,” she shouted breathlessly over the storm, “for England! And freedom!”

His face broke into his special soft smile. “The crossing will be rough,” he warned.

“We’ll be alright,” she said, stroking his face, “as long as we’re together, we’ll be alright.” 

Ben picked her up, and carried her in his arms, bridal style, to the boat.


	6. Epilogue

The cabin was small but warmly lit by the lamp that swung wildly from the ceiling as the ship danced across the stormy sea, casting shadows in the shapes of lovers that chased each other wildly around the wooden walls.

Rey and Ben, exhausted and ragged from their escape down the cliffs, stood facing each other between the bunk and the table, drinking each other in with their eyes in silent love and relief that both of them were alive.

It was Rey who broke the silence first. “We are a mess, aren’t we?” she sighed. Gently, she reached up and pulled Ben’s dirty cravat loose from around his neck and dropped it on the floor. Fumbling, her fingers still cold from clinging to the cliffs, she undid the top button of his collar.

He lifted his hand and combed his fingers through the knotted wet locks of her hair. “They left us a bucket of hot water for washing,” he murmured, brushing his thumb against her lips as he stroked her face.

Rey laughed, low and affectionate. “Well you first then, my big dirty husband you…” she lovingly undid the rest of his buttons, her fingers slowly warming up as she did so. She pulled it down off his shoulders for him, taking care not to hurt the scrapes and bruises he had gotten from the wild climb down the cliff. She made him kneel beside the bucket and gently sponged him down. He sighed, the warm water feeling good on his skin, and her touch even better.

“It must be your turn,” he told her after she’d done him quite thoroughly.

“What are we going to do with my hair?” Rey asked, pulling at the dirty, tangled locks.

“Put your head in the bucket and I’ll wash it for you,” Ben suggested.

Rey pulled out the last of the hairpins that were still hanging on and, kneeling over the bucket, dipped her whole mass of hair into it. Ben ran his fingers through it, massaging her head, gently unknotting the tangles and combing out the dirt with his fingers. Rey warmed at the sensation, her skin tingling.

When he was done washing it, he sat her on his lap and towelled it dry for her. Rey could feel his every warm breath on the rapidly drying skin of her neck and cheek, and when she could bear it no longer she turned her head and kissed him, brushing his lips and catching him by surprise.

His eyes opened wide, startled—and closed again as she captured his lips once again. His hands dropped the towel and went to her waist, rubbing the soft fabric of her under-dress between his fingers, and then as she pushed more firmly into the kiss, wanting more, balled up the material in fists as he returned the kiss with a passion.

They parted for air for a moment, and Ben caught her cheek and changed the angle of the kiss in a way that made Rey gasp, going deeper, tugging at his lips, tasting every part of him. It was the wildest, freest thing she’d ever experienced. 

Loving Ben wasn’t a prison after all… hearts aflight, it set them free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! Please consider leaving a comment if you did, they’e all precious to me! ❤️


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